The fifth major installment of the SimCity franchise is a new take on the old city simulation formula. It features asynchronous multiplayer as well as Maxis' new Glassbox engine, allowing for real time customization and upgrading of buildings.

SimCity On Origin

I haven't used Origin since Mass Effect 3 was released, and I remember my experience not being great, but it wasn't terrible either. Since SimCity is only on Origin, I was weighing my distrust of Origin with my want to play SimCity.

It's just a launcher that runs in the background. Sure, I think it would be better if I could keep my game library and friends list unified, but having to use Origin isn't enough to make skipping a great game worth it.

I haven't used Origin since Mass Effect 3 was released, and I remember my experience not being great, but it wasn't terrible either. Since SimCity is only on Origin, I was weighing my distrust of Origin with my want to play SimCity.

Is Origin a sketchy place, or is my mistrust misplaced?

It's totally fine. From my experience, the downloads are fast, the overlay works fine, and it's stable. All the Origin hate just stems from the "EA IS LITERALLY HITLER" circlejerk, so I would recommend ignoring that nonsense, and pick up Sim City without worrying about Origin.

Origin is totally fine as a service. Honestly, less glitchy and unstable than Steam for me. Also, I get better download speeds with it. I don't use it much, though, since it's only use for me is BF3 for now.

Everyone thinks that if you install Origin they'll assign a special agent to sit and monitor YOUR computer activity. :) Imagine the hordes of agents they probably have. They have to wear white suits and there's a syringe in their pens which they'll apply to you on a regular basis if they find out you watch porn online.

I'm not sensitive to the OHMAHGAWD-THEY*RE MONITORING MEH. : My impression is this: Origin is fine. It is a small program that functions as DRM just like Steam does. Steam monitors a lot of your activity as well and they keep track of what hardware you have as well. You should spend an evening figuring out the macro in why a big company collects user data. I play Battlefield 3 and it doesn't get in the way. 100 years later they got a clock in the overlay like Steam. /high five /chest bump /ass slap

Origin isn't bad. I mean, it isn't Steam. It doesn't have sick deals and the good will that Steam has garnered over time, but it is totally fine. The only beef I have with it is that it is a little annoying to have to use multiple clients/software applications for my games. Origin will in no way dissuade me from playing a game I want to play. Anyone who says it will is being petty and melodramatic.

The Origin Store is... not the place you go for deals on a regular basis. But for me that goes for the Steam Store as well. Steam at least tries during the holidays. Just get the games elsewhere and redeem the codes where you have to.

Origin is totally fine as a service. Honestly, less glitchy and unstable than Steam for me. Also, I get better download speeds with it. I don't use it much, though, since it's only use for me is BF3 for now.

I dont get better download speeds but i've said a few times the service has been less glitchy than steam for me and i use it quite a bit for burnout, mass effect and BF3, its came on leaps and bounds since the early days of constant crashing

Origin isn't bad. I mean, it isn't Steam. It doesn't have sick deals and the good will that Steam has garnered over time, but it is totally fine. The only beef I have with it is that it is a little annoying to have to use multiple clients/software applications for my games. Origin will in no way dissuade me from playing a game I want to play. Anyone who says it will is being petty and melodramatic.

Agreed.

@buft: When I was living somewhere where my internet was more stable, I downloaded BF3 from Origin at a steady 12 megabytes/second. It was 100% ridiculous and awesome. I'm lucky to pull down 2 megabytes/second where I live now. It depends a lot on your ISP and service area.

Origin isn't bad. I mean, it isn't Steam. It doesn't have sick deals and the good will that Steam has garnered over time, but it is totally fine. The only beef I have with it is that it is a little annoying to have to use multiple clients/software applications for my games. Origin will in no way dissuade me from playing a game I want to play. Anyone who says it will is being petty and melodramatic.

Agreed.

@buft: When I was living somewhere where my internet was more stable, I downloaded BF3 from Origin at a steady 12 megabytes/second. It was 100% ridiculous and awesome. I'm lucky to pull down 2 megabytes/second where I live now. It depends a lot on your ISP and service area.

i get around 8mb/s from steam, get around 6 from origin, im in the UK and i have 100 meg broadband but its BT and they do some throttling

I like Origin a whole lot, granted I wouln't wanna buy anything there, way to expensive, but I'll happily play on the servers and activate my Origin games there. Right now it's just Mass Effect 3 and Burnout Paradise but it's gonna be more soon

If I have a choice it's always gonna be Steam, but Origin is good enough

Origin works just fine, I don't get the Mistrust thing. But if you are ever going to want to play EA games in the future, it's something that you'll have to get used to. Or buy the console version if they ever make one of Simcity.

@buft: I also got around 8 or 9 MB/s from Steam when I lived in the suburbs of Madison, Wisconsin. Nominally, I had 100 mbps there and here in the city, but I only actually got that in the suburbs with Origin (or multiple simultaneous downloads, of course). Here, I seem to max out at 40 mbps, and most of the time I actually only get 2 or 3 mbps. It's really quite bad, and I should get around to demanding better speeds or downgrading my service.

I just pre-ordered the physical copy from Amazon.. that $20 credit. I hope they do another beta before launch - that would be very sweet. I don't have any problems with Origin, at least none since I started using it with BF3.

Origin is completely serviceable except for it's overlay. I just disable the origin one and use Steam's. It serves it's purpose. We're getting more EA sports games on PC now so there's that. Eventually Madden will come back to PC and Origin will be justified.

@Subjugation there is a reoccurring trend where whenever someone's game doesn't function properly Steam isn't all that willing to help out or even refund your money. The deals are nice but the moment you hand over your money it seems the goodwill stops.

It's fine. I actually like the publisher launchers Uplay, Origin. Steam is always open anyway, I think of Steam nowadays like AOL intstant messenger back in the day, but with people who like to game on it. I wouldn't mind another publisher client in my life, I'm thinking Bethesda. They got Elder Scrolls games, Fallouts, the MMO coming up, they've ramped up their publishing agenda. I like colorful icons.

I had some serious issues with Origin in the past, like for instance, not letting me download BF3 unless i booted in safe mode with networking. I havent had any issues with it in the recent past, but I can still see a future where EA has to suck it all up and go back to steam.